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A Holistic Christian Worldview: The Fall (Part 2 of 4)
By Dr. Ken Turnbull, ACU Vice-Chancellor
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"For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ...in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." ~ Romans 8:19-21
Last month the need for a Christian to have a "unitedheart," or holistic worldview, was examined in the way creation is perceived. There must be full unity in the way we understand God's complete, sovereign control over both natural laws and cultural and societal norms. This has direct implications in the way we make moral and ethical decisions based on our perception of the absolute, transcendent truth of God. This month, our attention is turned to a holistic worldview as it relates to the fall.
In the passage above, Paul notes that the whole creation is enslaved in "bondage to decay." The enslavement of the creation in bondage to decay was the direct result of God's judgment on sin that was promised before the disobedient act, or sin, of Adam and Eve. That judgement brought death. Disobedience of God's law and the resulting guilt and death is intimately a part of our human experience in this world. However, it is vital that we realise that the goodness of creation is absolutely distinct from the devastating effects of sin in creation.
One way to consider this distinction is to separate the "structure" of something in creation from its "direction." Structure is the substance, essence or nature of a created thing. We know what a girl is by our familiarity with the nature or essence of girls from our experience. However, a girl can be gentle and loving or, perhaps, if she has been horribly abused, she might be wicked and vicious. The fact that she is a girl is her structure. If we describe the girl's character, or what we see in her behaviour, we are describing the effects of sin (be it her sin or another's) in her direction. The nature of the girl is still a girl, but her direction can be in-line with sin, making her evil, or in-line with redemption, making her good. We can consider anything or any structure in creation. The thing, or structure, can either be directed towards God, or in obedience to God (expressing truth), or it can be directed away from God, in disobedience to Him (expressing error). The concepts of structure and direction are useful in discerning the difference between creation and the effects of the fall.
Many people wrongly identify an aspect of the parasitic effects of sin on creation and falsely identify that as God's good creation. This is confusing creation's structure and the impact of sin's direction. Aside from Christianity, all other worldviews, religions and philosophies confuse creation and the fall in one way or another. As described last month, God is sovereign over all of His creation through His natural laws and His societal and cultural laws, or norms. Sin may repress or pervert God's law, but it will never change or nullify it. For example, there will always remain the pressure calling for justice even in the midst of tyranny. The innate difference between a man, a woman, and their unity in marriage will never be altered in their creational structure despite the perversions of sexual sin and pressures for redefining related cultural norms and societal laws.
The pressure on Christians is to succumb to the world's failure to discern the difference between creation and the fall, and respond by separating our image-bearing mission in Christ from our role as the salt and light in this fallen world. This plays out in the classic expression of separating the "sacred" from the "secular." This will be expounded on in the following article of this series next month.
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Anasi Lupunga: Pastor, Father & Prayer Warrior
By Kendra Hawley, ACU Librarian
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Each new venture takes vision. The vision for ACU started in the hearts of believers in Zambia many years ago. Each step in this process is a collected effort between believers from all over the world. We trust that God will use ACU to assist the churches with spreading the gospel throughout Zambia and all of Africa.
The Baptist missionaries from South Africa reached the Lamba people with the gospel and saw many turn their lives to the Lord. By the early 1930s, these missionaries knew it was time to begin transferring leadership to the Lamba believers. They saw God's work in the lives of two men: Paul Kasonga and Anasi Lupunga. These men were passionate about their walk with the Lord and traversed Lambaland taking the gospel from village to village. Through this team, the Lord built the Lamba church.
Last month we read about Paul Kasonga. This month, let me introduce you to Anasi Lupunga.
In 1896, Seke Kapupu Lupunga, was born second in a family of four. His father was of royal descent and he grew up among these circles. He traveled to Southern Rhodesia to work on the railroads from 1909-1913. He returned to Lambaland before his father died. In 1917 he married Luchebusha Miyanda (later known as Lydia).
Lupunga followed his brother to the Kafulfuta mission station and there came to know the Lord after spending time at the mission school in 1919. He was baptized in 1920 and given the name Anasi Mascot Lupunga.
Soon his wife joined him at the mission station. The Lord blessed them with ten children, eight of whom survived to adulthood. As Lupunga became busier with gospel work, he did not neglect his family. He would often ask his children what they were learning from the scripture and he made sure all his children were educated. This legacy of Christian heritage is still evident among Anasi's descendants.
In addition to teaching and preaching in the Kafulafuta mission area, Lupunga travelled in a yearly 3-week circuit to preach in the area west of the mission including the Mpongwe area. His preaching was simple, but powerful. Although a gentle person, Lupunga would not tolerate anything evil or wrong and would speak out about it. He, Paul Kasonga and two others were appointed elders in 1934. Lupunga and Kasonga were kindred spirits and worked well together. They assisted Olive Doke with translating the Scripture into the Lamba language. Lupunga was a leader among his people and in 1956, when the Lambaland Baptist Association formed, he was named its first chairman.
After being ordained as a minister in 1953, Lupunga was given some allowance for his ministry work. Because of his large family, he also tended to his garden and sold the produce to care for them. One of the Kafulafuta deacons assisted by transporting and selling it in town so Lupunga did not have to spend more time away from his ministry work.
A distinguishing trait in Anasi was his prayer life. He dedicated one room in his house for extended times of prayer and study. Olive Doke says of Lupunga, "Anasi has continued his Evangelistic work with heart and soul, and has been the means of keeping the "flock" from wandering. Joy has been [his] again and again in seeing strayed sheep return to the fold, in direct answer to prayer."
Anasi Lupunga died on March 31, 1970 at the age of 75. He is buried, next to his first wife (Lydia died of cancer in 1962 & he later married Asibeli in 1965), in Kafulafuta.  Praise the Lord for the work and testimony of Anasi Lupunga.
Thank you to Conrad Mbewe, for sharing his research, and Paul Lupunga, for sharing some family history.
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An Interview with Phil Bailey
By Rev. David Wegener, ACU Dean of Seminary
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ACU: Can you tell us a bit about your background: Phil: I was born in a village called Peasmarsh in the south east of England, into a family with seven boys. My father had a supermarket and we worked with him and earned our pocket money. However, I was always more interested in growing plants. During my school holidays, I worked with my uncle who had a plant nursery. At the age of 18 I did a certificate in Horticulture at a College in St Albans. When I was 22 I received my first job in the seed industry and soon was working for a Dutch company. I was with this company until the age of 40, when my life changed!
ACU: How did you become a Christian and how did you get to Zambia? Phil: I was brought up in a Christian home and sort of "believed in God," but it was never personal and didn't affect the way I actually lived. For a while, I was interested in going to Africa and doing volunteer work, but it was mostly for myself. However, in 2002, God was working in my life and my plans changed. I still believed that I was headed to Africa but now I knew that the most important thing in life was to come to know God personally and Jesus as my Savior. Therefore, I couldn't go to Africa and "do my own thing." I had to make sure that in whatever I did I was serving Him and living/working with Christians. After giving my company notice, I heard about Covenant College in Zambia. So I emailed their Principal and explained that I had worked in horticulture for 20 years and maybe I could work with them. His reply was very humbling. "You are an answer to our prayers. We have 90 hectares of farmland and need someone with some growing experience to develop it." I visited Covenant later and knew this was where I was meant to be. God still had some work to do in my life but we can talk of that another time.
ACU: You teach something called Farming God's Way. Can you tell us about it? Phil: I began at Covenant in 2004 and my role as the Farm Ministry leader was to set up a farm to provide food for the students and to teach basic  agricultural practices. We wanted to find ways to improve yields and then to pass this knowledge on. I learned about Farming God's Way (FGW) in 2006. Essentially it is a Biblical approach to conservation/sustainable farming. The goal of FGW is to produce high yields from the soil in a sustainable way that makes a profit. The parable of the talents is foundational to FGW. If we are faithful with little, God will add to us; and if we are unfaithful with little, He will take away even what we have. God gave the land to Adam and to us and we must be faithful in our stewardship of it. We cannot keep taking from the land without giving first. FGW is God's plan to protect and preserve the precious soil and rain He gives us. God's blanket is the name we give to the wonderful mulch cover from the fallen leaves and plant material that we see in God's creation. We don't plough or burn or remove God's blanket. This greatly reduces soil erosion and captures the precious water that God gives, holds it in the soil and transfers it more efficiently to the plants. It also greatly reduces the risk of drought and levels of pests and disease. We have a few main guidelines: (1) Plan ahead; prepare well; start early; never be late. (2) Do every operation as well as you can. No shortcuts. Be honest and honorable in all that you do. (3) Don't waste time or soil or water or sunlight or seed or nutrients or labor or energy. (4) If you do these things faithfully, and without self-pity or complaining or blaming others or making excuses, God will take away fear and give you hope and joy, which will be your strength.  | | Phil with Students |
ACU: How has FGW been received in Zambia? Phil: Yields have increased dramatically. We are consistently reaching average yields of above 30 x 50kg bags of maize from a quarter of a hectare. Normally, the average yield in Zambia for the same portion is less than 5 bags. However, acceptance of new methods takes time and requires a change of heart. Christians are accepting this new method rather quickly. Tradition and cultural obstacles often hold back nonbelievers. There is a belief of "limited good," so that if someone does well, that means someone else has to do poorly. Those who do well are sometimes accused of using witchcraft to make others do poorly. So these are challenges and we keep persevering, but, overall, we're encouraged. Our work has mainly been in Zambia's eastern province and we hope to teach the same things at ACU.
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Praise God for the safe arrival of Davey Hoffman who will be teaching Maths in the Scholars Program.
The shelving is in the library.
The classrooms are now outfitted with desks and tables.
God blessed ACU presentations at the Reformed Conference in Lusaka and the Sola 5 Conference in South Africa.
Ray safely arrived in the US to spend time with Peggy and the family and to promote ACU at several churches and conferences.
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Pray for the Ministry of Education to grant registration quickly.
We are still seeking a Project Manager for campus development.
Pray that God would raise up someone to take on the unique ministry opportunity as Student Labour Programme Director.
The Olive Doke Pavilion needs structural reinforcement.
Pray for those undertaking this project to have wisdom and skill.
Please pray for on-going unity amongst the ACU governance team as our program moves forward.
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Seeking Help
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If God has gifted you as an artisan of excellence in any aspect of the construction trade, consider discipling colleagues and students with ACU. Please contact us if you believe God is calling you to serve His kingdom work in this way.
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Links
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A Letter From Kabwata
African Donations
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